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Dwight Howard of Orlando Magic -
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Dwight Howard turned in a powerful all-round game to lift the Orlando Magic to an 86-79 victory over the Boston Celtics on Monday and tighten up the race for Eastern Conference seedings.
Howard scored 18 points, pulled down 15 rebounds and blocked five shots as the Magic charged to a seven-point first-quarter lead and extended it to 18 by the half to go 51-33 in front.
The Celtics nearly made the Magic's extended 22-point lead disappear, drawing to within three points before Howard sank a pair of free throws with 13.9 seconds left to make sure of victory.
Balanced attack
Hedo Turkoglu also scored 16 points and Rashard Lewis had 15 in Orlando's balanced attack.
Orlando improved to 46-16 with the victory and have just one more loss than defending NBA champion Celtics (49-15), who wasted a 32-point contribution by Ray Allen.
Allen scored 17 points in a blistering fourth-quarter performance, including nine straight points to make it 82-79 with just over a minute left to play. His three-point effort with 41 seconds left hit the back rim.
The defeat gave Boston two more losses than East Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers (49-13).
